Contents

Oswald's Visits to the Cuban and Soviet Embassies

Portion of Warren Commission Exhibit 2564, a copy of the visa application submitted at the Cuban Embassy, featuring a photo of Oswald.Photo from Warren Commission Exhibits, Volume XXV.

On September 27 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald apparently visited the Cuban and Soviet embassies in an attempt to obtain a visa for travel through Cuba to the Soviet Union (travel to Cuba as a final destination was not permitted by the U.S.). The Soviets told Oswald that he would have to wait months to obtain a visa, and the Cubans told him that without a Soviet visa he could not obtain an "in-transit" visa through Cuba. After a heated argument with a Cuban Consulate official, Oswald departed without succeeding and proceeded to Dallas on October 3.

The simple story told above, largely parroting the Warren Report, is layered with mysteries. While there is some powerful evidence that it was indeed Oswald who appeared at the embassies, most notably the photo shown on the right side of this page which was attached to the visa application, Cuban Consul Azcue told the HSCA that the person he argued with was not Lee Harvey Oswald. Apparently some other consular employees believed the same. While Sylvia Duran, with whom Oswald dealt most directly, believed it was Oswald, even she had described him to interrogators as "short" and "blond."

If it was Oswald, why did the photo surveillance of the Cuban and Soviet Embassies fail to pick up a single picture of him? And why did FBI agents in Dallas, in the wee hours of the morning of November 23, determine that an imposter was using Oswald's name in a taped phone call to the Soviet Embassy at the time of this visit?

The CIA's Mexico City Station sent cables to headquarters in early October, reporting on the Oswald visit. But these cables described a person who is clearly not Oswald, and instead matches a different person picked up on photo surveillance cameras. In response, officers at CIA headquarters in Washington sent a cable back to Mexico City correcting the description, while within hours these same officers passed on the incorrect description to the FBI, State Department, and Navy. When questioned about this in 1994, CIA officer Jane Roman said "I'm signing off on something I know isn't true." Additionally, senior CIA officers, including the Mexico City Station Chief and the Chief of Research and Analysis in CounterIntelligence, have disputed the completeness of the record of cables we now have.

MEXI 6543. This cable of Oct 8 from Mexico City CIA Station to Headquarters reported on the Oswald visit.

DIR 74673. This cable of Oct 10, reacting to MEXI 6453 above, disseminated the incorrect description of "Lee Henry Oswald" to the FBI, State Department, and Navy.

DIR 74830. The same officers drafting 74673 that same day sent this cable in reply to MEXI, correcting the description of "Lee Henry Oswald," but falsely noting that "latest info" was from May 1962. In fact, two FBI reports on Oswald's US activities had been received in recent weeks.

CD 1359. Warren Commission Document 1359 is based on the report of an informant code-named SOLO (Jack Childs, a high-level mole in the CPUSA). The informant reports Fidel Castro as having told him that when Oswald was refused a visa, he stormed out saying "I'm going to kill Kennedy for this."

HSCA Testimony of Raymond Rocca. Mr. Rocca was Chief of Research and Analysis in CounterIntelligence, and had operated in a liaison capacity to the Warren and Rockefeller Commissions. See particularly p.81-91 where the October 1963 cable traffic is discussed.

It Came to Little. Mexico City CIA Station Chief left a manuscript entitled "It Came to Little," one chapter of which focuses on the Oswald trip. Scott's account is at great variance with the official record. On one page he recorded: "persons watching these embassies photographed Oswald as he entered and left each one; and clocked the time he spent on each visit."

John Newman talks about the cable sent out from headquarters to other agencies regarding Oswald's Mexico City visit, and the curious action taken by the FBI to remove the "stop" on Oswald's name hours before CIA reported on it (running time: 4:56). high-resolution low-resolution

John Newman speculates on the integrity of the cable record now in existence, and tells the story of Warren Commissioner David Slawson's initial refusal to discuss the Mexico City tapes with the ARRB (running time: 1:56). high-resolution low-resolution